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Officers describe finding Tim Bosma's truck at home of mother of accused

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, February 9, 2016 5:19AM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, February 9, 2016 5:14PM EST

HAMILTON -- Police officers testifying at the trial of two men accused of killing Tim Bosma described a frantic search of a trailer found north of Toronto as they looked for the missing Hamilton man.

Const. Cory Weick told court Tuesday he and another officer responded to a call in Kleinburg, Ont., about a "suspicious trailer" that might be related to Bosma, who had disappeared a week earlier after taking two men for a test drive in the truck he was trying to sell.

Weick, a York Regional Police officer, said he had to call the force's tactical team to break into a large trailer that was parked at the home of Madeleine Burns, Dellen Millard's mother.

Millard, 30, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the death of Bosma, whose body was found burned beyond recognition.

Weick said he and the other officer were responding to a call on May 12, 2013 from Frank Cianfarani, who testified Tuesday he noticed a large trailer parked at the home of his neighbour, Burns, in the early morning hours of May 9.

Cianfarani said that he called police after a "snooping" reporter came around showing a picture of Millard with the trailer in the background. He said he thought it was the same trailer as the one parked at his neighbour's house.

At this point, court has heard, Millard was already under arrest.

Weick said he called Hamilton police to find out more information about Bosma, who had disappeared on May 6.

A Hamilton detective, he said, indicated Weick needed to search the trailer immediately because "a missing person was now an abduction investigation and that the male party could be inside."

After the tactical team broke the locks, Weick said they found a black pickup truck and he saw a tarp, car parts, ramps, but no licence plate and nothing underneath the truck.

The inside of the truck was "partially stripped" and Bosma wasn't inside the trailer, Weick said.

He then found the truck's vehicle identification number and yelled it out to another officer, Mark Levangie, who stood outside the trailer and also testified on Tuesday.

It was Bosma's truck and Weick said when they looked up information for the trailer, they found it was registered to Millardair, the aviation company owned by Millard.

The officers said they knocked on the door of the home, but no one answered.

Another neighbour, Gianluca Consiglio, testified he saw the trailer and a pickup truck across the street, and told court he remembers the incident because the lights of the truck were shining into his bedroom as he was about to go to sleep.

He said he didn't see anyone outside and couldn't see inside the pickup truck, but remembered the front door of Burns' house being open in the early hours of May 9.

The Crown alleges Bosma was killed inside his truck and that his body was later burned in an incinerator.

Earlier Tuesday, a Rogers Communications employee testified she received a request from Hamilton police about a missing man and provided investigators with a phone number registered to Millard and locations of the phone on May 6, 2013.

Danielle Fortier said the phone pinged off a cell tower in Ancaster, Ont. -- Bosma lived in that part of Hamilton -- at 9:02 p.m. when the phone received a text.

She said the same phone pinged off towers in Brantford, Ont., at 9:44 p.m. when the phone received two more texts.

Court earlier heard Bosma disappeared shortly after 9 p.m. when his wife, Sharlene Bosma, said she saw her husband drive off in his truck with two men.